12 Replies

The cost of statin medication to NHS is very low!, I do not know why you are not allowed to continue the medication works for you?

Please go back to your GP with full explanation and request that you go beck to the medication that works for you it is your body that is having problems!

GPs can be incorrect!!!!

I experienced a similar problems with antihistamine medication, I went into depression, one of the GP in the practice understood my problem very well but not the other GP. I am controlling my medication at the moment.

Just a little bit off the subject - but related to your question. You may be confusing the matter of different statin drugs with different names and generic naming of drugs. It is my understanding that, for example , Rosuvastatin and Atorvastatin are two entirely different drugs created/invented by two different drug companies to do basically the same job under different names CRESTOR and LIPITOL. These Companies having invented these drugs get to have exclusive copyright of their products for some time - until some time is reached whereby other Companies can then produce identical copies which are commonly sold as cheaper "generics" . These generics are cheaper because the manufacturers have not needed to spend lot of money developing them. The original inventors of the drugs need to recoup the cost of their inventions and without these Companies we would not have any drugs available to us at all.

For those people who rail against "Big Pharma" - I say, don't use their products - and die!!!

It looks like Rosuvastatin/Crestor's patent expired 2016 and Atorvastatin/Lipitor's expired a while ago, so both are now available as generics, although I expect Crestor is still more expensive as AZ shuts down its production plant near Bristol but fewer generic manufacturers have yet started up full production. I suspect the price difference is not likely to be enough to be worth changing prescriptions.

A more likely reason why they tried changing is a growing suspicion that Crestor may be another Lipobay - a statin that should be withdrawn because the side-effects outweigh the benefits. bmj.com/content/350/bmj.h1388

Crestor (Rosuvastatin) and Lipitor (Atorvastatin) are both statins, which means that they both work the same way, that is by blocking the 'mevalonate pathway' by which the production of cholesterol is engendered by the liver. This means that not only is cholesterol lowered but also the production of Coenzyme Q10 (Ubiquinol) which the muscles need. This is turn gives rise to a whole host of other issues such as muscle problems, liver and kidney failure and (for women) an increased risk of diabetes and breast cancer. The way I understand it, using statins only makes sense if you are a) male, b) between 45 and 75, and c) have already suffered a heart attack. For this group, statins may help prevent another heart attack. For everybody else, no difference in mortality has ever been proved.

Anyway, the only difference between Lipitor and Crestor is, as I understand it, that Lipitor is fat-soluble and Crestor is water-soluble. This means that Lipitor can also affect the brain, and Crestor probably doesn't. Crestor often does have a strong impact on the muscles, however - I have experienced this myself and for this reason alone will never take another statin. If I would, the muscle problems might well become permanent. And besides, as I explained above, the positive effect in my case would be zero.

I was told at a forum in Wythenshawe Hospital by consultants in this field that Crestor is the dearest statin & is therefore prescribed to people with a poor family history of cardiovascular disease. I fit this category because my parents both died at age 63. I was prescribed this drug many years ago by Prof. Paul Durrington at Manchester Royal Infirmary & have taken it ever since (40mg) without side effects, alongside Ezetrol 10 mg. I would not discontinue it off my own bat as I would be very wary of doing so without advice. I am 71 and normotensive, due to hypotensive therapy, but thankfully have no overt symptoms of heart disease.